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The Mysterious Affair at Styles - Agatha Christie

Novel set in the backdrop of the First World War, begins with the introduction of the protagonist/narrator ,war veteran Hastings and his arrival at Styles Court Manor, a large mansion where a well respected aristocratic family of England lives. When tragedy strikes the matriarch of the family Hercule Poirot comes in to start sorting the mess out. With one obvious suspect and many others with ulterior motives and gains, plot gets more and more exciting by every page. 

Surprisingly this is my first Agatha Christie book, even though I have read mystery and crime fiction before. I have been a Sherlock fan, ever since I started reading large books. Many of my friends are hardcore Christie fans. I never got time or willingness to try Christie's books. Because I always had many others on my mind. One day, in my discord server, for the book roulette event, "The Mysterious Affair at Styles" came up and I was ready to try a Christie book at last. And what happened was that this book blew me away.

Few pages in I was already interested in the plot and settings. When the investigation begins after the catalyst event, I was even more excited. And then came the avalanche of twist after twist, subversions and distractions. It literally blew my mind. I can positively say that Conan Doyle never did this to this extent in his books. Since I have not read other Christie books I can only compare her to Conan Doyle. In that juxtaposition Christie comes on top with respect to the twists and turns in the plot and Doyle reigns superior with his "darkness lurking underneath" aura he creates. 

As far as the characters go, they are really well written. You can easily get an image of them in your mind. They and their actions are believable and also nuanced. The interactions between these characters with nuances is what that keeps the story going. One could also say that the incompetence of the narrator with the investigation also helped to give Poirot an inhuman type of nature. 

There are plenty of clues and foreshadowing's in the book from which one can identify the criminal and predict the following events, which I really enjoy. But even with my best efforts Christie still managed to surprise me. So its a great book have a good read..
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